Finward Bancorp Purchases New Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Finward Bancorp acquired a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,608 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $824,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $724,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Warther Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,292,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. now owns 7,283 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,302,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of V stock traded down $2.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $329.26. 5,640,095 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,231,438. The stock's fifty day moving average is $341.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $320.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54. The stock has a market cap of $611.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Visa's payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $355.84.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490 over the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Visa

Visa Inc operates as a payment technology company in the United States and internationally. The company operates VisaNet, a transaction processing network that enables authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions. It also offers credit, debit, and prepaid card products; tap to pay, tokenization, and click to pay services; Visa Direct, a solution that facilitates the delivery of funds to eligible cards, deposit accounts, and digital wallets; Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral business-to-business cross-border payments network; Visa Cross-Border Solution, a cross-border consumer payments solution; and Visa DPS that provides a range of value-added services, including fraud mitigation, dispute management, data analytics, campaign management, a suite of digital solutions, and contact center services.